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Freedom Rider to Share Story and Documentary at UMW, Feb. 3

More than 50 years ago, a 19-year-old college student named Joan Trumpauer Mulholland bought a flight to Mississippi and joined the front lines of the Civil Rights Movement. It was 1961, the year that dozens of sit-ins occurred in diners and drugstores and the same year that the Freedom Rides challenged segregated interstate bus travel in the Deep South. Mulholland, a white teenager raised in the South, was arrested and sent to prison for two months for her involvement in the protests.

Joan Mulholland, shown during a trip to UMW in 2011, will be a part of UMW’s Black History Month celebration on Feb. 3.

Mulholland will share her story at the University of Mary Washington on Monday, Feb. 3 at 7 p.m. in Lee Hall, Room 411 as part of the Black History Month celebration. The evening will begin with a showing of the new documentary, “An Ordinary Hero,” which chronicles her unlikely journey. After the documentary, Mulholland and the film’s director will lead a discussion and answer questions.

Mulholland was among the former Freedom Riders who joined UMW as it commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Rides in 2011 with a three-month celebration. The centerpiece of the celebration was a 1960s-era bus and exhibit of historical photos on Ball Circle.

UMW’s Black History Month celebration also will feature the following events: